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Crypto Exchange Huobi Rakes in Over $500 Million in 2018 Despite Industry Downturn

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi said it has raked in over half a billion in trading fees throughout 2018 despite industry downturn.

As it indicates in the year roundup letter from Huobi CEO Leon Li Lin to the exchange’s staff, Huobi has handled over $200 billion trading volume, raking in over $500 million in commissions throughout the year 2018.

Letter addressed to Huobi employees from Leon Li Lin

The outstanding figure was reportedly more than the commissions earned by the top two exchanges by trading volume – Binance ($462 million) and OKEx ($292 million).

Founded in 2013, the China-based exchange was at one point the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange by trading volume, but these days the former “big three” exchange has been seen drop out of the top 5 where it had remained for a long time.

According to CoinMarketCap, Huobi has an average daily trading volume of about $300 million and it’s currently the 7th largest crypto exchange.

Despite the prolonged crypto bear, along with the upheaval of its ranking in the market, the exchange is still raking in huge amount of profit every day, and is one of the largest crypto over-the-counter (OTC) marketplaces, with over $100 million in OTC trading per day.

Nevertheless, most of the revenue actually came from the first half year when the crypto market was not so sluggish as that of the second half. At the year-end, the exchange has been spending money carefully, downsizing its divisions and laying off staff. The co-founder and CEO of Huobi is prepared for the worse, saying to his fellow employees,

“(The situation in) 2019 might be tougher than that of 2018, even much harder and more challenging than any year of the past 6 years (since its establishment).”

The unpredictable future of the crypto market is why we are currently seeing a plurality of crypto exchanges streamline their operations to remain competitive amidst the ongoing bear market, but we have also seen many signs of progress made overseas, with Huobi’s regulated local exchanges established in the U.S., Japan and Korea, Binance planting its flags in Europe and Africa.